Reading List
Some reading inspiration! Do you just love embroidery and textiles so much you want to read about it too? Check out this reading list, compiled by my YouTube followers, of books relating to embroidery, quilting, weaving, fabric, textiles and colour just to name a few!
If you know of a good read not on this list, do get in touch via the contact page here and I will add it to the list (relevant to embroidery and textiles, no how-to books please.)
(Please note, I'm not endorsing these books, this a list compiled from books suggested to me, please check them out before purchasing/borrowing!)
Check out the video here on some of these books
The Lady and the Unicorn - Tracy Chevalier (Harper Collins 2004)
A single Thread - Tracy Chevalier (The Borough Press 2009)
Threads of life - Clare Hunter (Sceptre 2019)
The Golden Thread - Kassia St Clair (John Murray Publishers 2019)
The Bayeux Tapestry - Carola Hicks (Vintage Books 2007)
The Secret Lives of Colour - Kassia St Clair (John Murray Publishers 2016)
The Story of a Needle - A.L.O.E (T Nelson and Sons, 1893)
Golden Spider Silk - Simon Peers (V&A Publishing 2012)
Embroidering Her Truth: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Language of Power - Clare Hunter (Sceptre 2022)
The Mummies of Urumchi - Elizabeth W Barber (Pan McMillan 1999)
The Oysterville Sewing Circle - Susan Wiggs (Harper Fiction 2019)
Subversive Stitch - Roszika Parker (BloomsburyVisual Arts 2019)
The Last Runaway - Tracy Chevalier (Harper Collins 2013, USA Penguin)
Threads of Feeling - John Styles (The Foundling Museum 2010)
Odo's Hanging - Peter Benson (Sceptre 1994)
Patch Work, A life Amongst Clothes - Claire Wilcox (Bloomsbury Publishing 2020)
The Dress Diary of Mrs. Anne Sykes - Kate Strasdin (Pegasus 2023, Vintage 2024)
The Gown - Jennifer Robson (Headline Review 2019)
The Forgotten Seamstress - Liz Trenow (Avon 2014)
The Stumpwork Robe - Prue Batten (YouWriteOn 2008)
A short history of the world according to sheep - Sally Coulthard (Apollo 2021)
The Scarlet Thread - Francine Rivers (Tyndale House Publishers 2012)
The Sewing Machine - Natalie Fergie (Embla Books 2025)
Silk, A World History - Aarathi Prasad (Harper Collins 2024)
Women's Work The first 20,000 years - Elizabeth Wayland Barber (WW Norton and Co. 2024)
The Fabric of Civilization, How Textiles Made the World - Virginia Postrel (Basic Books 2021)
Stitching Freedom Embroidery and Incarceration - Isabella Rosner (common Threads press 2024)